


you know how to read my mind, i'm lost and it's you i find

by wyverary



Series: i'm the reason you're divine [1]
Category: Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Deaf Character, Deaf Martha Bessel, Drinking, F/F, Implied/Referenced Police Brutality, Implied/Referenced Racism, drinking is just referenced tho bc it's a speakeasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8456551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyverary/pseuds/wyverary
Summary: Ilse is shining and Martha wants to dance (20s au)





	

**Author's Note:**

> back at it again with these bad fics & aesthetic lowercase titles
> 
> title is from "telepathy" by christina aguilera also watch the get down on netflix

There were no windows in the dressing room. That meant that the heat from the mirror lights and the sweaty, sequin-covered bodies had nowhere to go but up to the low ceiling.

There was no water, either; only liquor. The dancers prayed they wouldn't pass out by the end of the night.

“You new around here?” 

Martha cursed herself for jumping at the movement in her line of vision, but the stomach-melting look she got from the woman was well worth acting a fool. She nodded. The woman’s grin grew even wider.

“I’m Ilse, and you?”

She was mesmerizing. Martha could read the words on her lips, but she would feel like a fool if she didn't let her know.

“I’m deaf,” she said.

“Oh! My bad!” Ilse spoke and signed. “If I had known I would have started off that way. My name is I-L-S-E.”

Martha smiled.

_M-A-R-T-H-A_

Not bad for her first night as a showgirl.

* * *

“Need some help there?” Ilse appeared behind her in the mirror as she stared at the table. She nodded.

“Here. Let me look at you up close.”

Martha shifted her chair so that they were face-to-face. Ilse’s brown eyes and updone black hair and tanned skin were even more captivating up close. She was like a raging flame, flickering in front of her and shining into her eyes.

Martha wasn't light enough for a blush to show up, but she felt the heat rise in her face as Ilse brushed powder onto her cheeks and painted her eyes. Martha could have spent a century sitting there, watching Ilse focus. Just her luck that she put down the brush.

“I’m almost done. There's one more thing I can add to finish the whole look,” she said. She came in close and whispered, “May I show you?”

Martha nodded. She watched her color her lips a dark red. 

She didn't have to wait long for her to come back into her space. Ilse kneeled down between Martha’s legs, looking up through her lined eyes. Martha felt fire in the pit of her stomach as she moved closer.

She was close enough to touch. And she just kept leaning in, until she stopped an inch away. She backed up so that Martha could read her lips asking, “Is this okay?”

She didn't say it right then and there, but Martha knew exactly what she meant.

She nodded.

Ilse leaned in, even more slowly than before, until Martha came forward to meet her in the middle. Their lips connected and the bass of the club’s music seemed to beat louder. Her blood rushed through her veins as Ilse moved her lips against Martha’s. Too soon, she was pulling away.

Somehow, she had ended up in Martha’s lap. The beads of her dress dug into her skin. The air buzzed.

Martha saw Ilse looking down at her from her perch on her legs and saying something about how lipstick is good to have or something.

Martha nodded.

She didn't think that was the driving force behind Ilse’s mouth on hers. The lipstick was smudged on both their mouths. Still, on this high, she could dance on stage all night. 

At that moment, some lady decked in feathers came screeching into the dressing room. Ilse, now leaning against the cream-colored vanity table, grew more and more apprehensive with each word. All Ilse could sign was _police_ before grabbing her hand and running.

Before Martha could blink, they were running through an alley with their shoes in their hands as their feet caught pieces of broken glass. She knew her stockings were wrecked. 

Ilse stopped and turned to her.

 _The police showed up. We need to hide. They’ll come down on us worse than the others_ , she signed. She didn’t speak. Martha remembered the police in her old neighborhood and knew Ilse was right. She nodded.

Ilse formed an H on her forehead for a second before muttering something like "He'll be fine". 

They ran into the night.

* * *

They holed up in Ilse’s apartment for the night and held each other close between sheets that smelled like roses. Martha ducked her head into Ilse’s neck. Her pulse beat fast just below the surface of her skin. Neither of them slept.

For now, they were fine.

**Author's Note:**

> this is gonna be a series there's probably gonna be 2 more but they're with different characters
> 
> also this feels like the plot of a porno except with no sex
> 
> probably nobody gives a fuxk but in this au they're american & ilse is indigenous & im picturing her as tanaya beatty & then martha is treshelle


End file.
